Thanks for the reply,
   I have control of the CA in creating certificates. The CRL contains the SN 
of the certs that are revoked. I also noticed we have an SRL file which shows 
the last SN used for the certificates and it increments by 1 for every 
certificate created. You said:
"Having the same serial on CA2 as on CA1 is totally irrelevant."
Does that mean the CRL goes by more than the SN? I was thinking of doing this:
 edit the SRL and replace it with the SN of the revoked cert, after using it i 
revert back to the correct SN pattern. 

If the CRL does need to have a perfect match to treat the created cert as a 
"revoked cert" do i need to create a perfect replication in terms of all input 
parameters or the CRL will be smart enough to know they are still different?

thanks



--- On Tue, 11/17/09, Dave Thompson <[email protected]> wrote:

> From: Dave Thompson <[email protected]>
> Subject: RE: how to create an already revoked certificate?
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 4:06 PM
> > From: [email protected]
> On Behalf Of Al
> > Sent: Monday, 16 November, 2009 15:40
> 
> > I am trying to create a certificate that is already
> revoked 
> > (for testing purposes). I noticed the CRL has the SNs
> of the 
> > certificates and i am wondering if i could set the SN
> to 
> 
> Yes, certs are identified for many purposes, including 
> revocation on a CRL, by serial within CA.
> 
> > revoked cert SNs during new certificate creation?
> > 
> This is not entirely clear; I assume you mean create a new
> cert 
> with a serial that is already on a CRL issued by the (same)
> CA. 
> (You can't change the serial on an issued cert; it's part
> of the 
> signed content. You legally could create/issue a new cert,
> 
> with new CA/serial, and all other contents the same as an 
> existing cert, even validity. But it's usual to redo the
> validity.
> Having the same serial on CA2 as on CA1 is totally
> irrelevant.)
> 
> If you control the CA, maybe; it depends on what the CA
> software 
> does. A CA is not SUPPOSED to ever issue different certs
> with 
> the same serial, but you may be able to override or fake
> yours.
> openssl ca|x509(ca)depend on text files you can clobber;
> openssl req(self)|x509(self) obey the command line.
> 
> If you do create two (or more) certs with the same serial,
> and 
> both (or multiple) of them are ever present in any
> environment, 
> you have a very good chance of creating chaos. The purpose
> of 
> the serial is to uniquely identify the cert within a given
> CA, 
> and lots of software assumes this. If there are two
> different 
> certs with the same serial for the same CA, all kinds of
> things 
> can go wrong that you can spend months debugging.
> 
> But if you control the CA, you should be able to easily
> issue 
> a new CRL about as easily as you can issue a new cert.
> 
> If you don't control the CA, and it is competently run, no.
> It 
> will always create new certs with unique serials, as it
> should.
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________________
> OpenSSL Project           
>                
>      http://www.openssl.org
> Development Mailing List         
>              [email protected]
> Automated List Manager         
>              
>    [email protected]
> 



______________________________________________________________________
OpenSSL Project                                 http://www.openssl.org
Development Mailing List                       [email protected]
Automated List Manager                           [email protected]

Reply via email to